Howard's way? Public opinion as an influence on Australia's engagement with Asia

Has the Howard government simply continued Asian engagement along the broad lines laid down by Australian governments since the 1970s? Have there been particular areas of engagement where public opinion has been important as a consideration for the government? In such cases how has public opinion been dealt with? It is the contention of this paper that while there have been some differences in emphasis as compared with previous governments, in broad terms the strategy for Asian engagement has been remarkably similar at a substantive level as far as the external dimensions are concerned. The differences between the previous Keating Labor government and the Howard government have been at the level of rhetoric and in relation to the domestic political dimension of Asian engagement